THE NORTH-GERM.A.N EMPIRE. T HE processes of digestion are not performed
in public, and we do not wonder, therefore, that the success of the Hohenzollerns in assimilating their new acquisitions attracts comparatively little attention. It is, however, very note- worthy, more especially as regards the tougher morsels,—the States which must be absorbed without any visible crunching. That Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Nassau, Frankfort, and the rest should by degrees acquiesce in their destiny, and leave Jacobitism to respectable but diminishing coteries, was to be expected. Men do not rise against a government so powerful as that of Prussia without grave provocation, and grave pro- vocation has not been received, except by a body of men too few to make resistance anything but a dream. The Danish inhabitants of Schleswig are no doubt oppressed, as they obtained permission by treaty to choose between Denmark and Germany, and have, nevertheless, been refused their choice. Whether they would use it if they had it, would, that is, sacrifice a magnificent future for the sake of avoiding present discomfort, is another matter, but certainly they have been deprived of a guaranteed right. But to the Hanoverian, or Frankforter, or German Schleswig-Holsteiner the provocation to revolt is very small indeed. He has lost a certain power of self-government, which was pleasant ; a certain relation to his own special prince, which was gratifying ; a cer- tain separatenesa. of civilization, which was enjoyable ; and a good deal of freedom, which was most important ; but he has gained in return a possibility of great careers, a share in the government of one of the greatest States in the world, and a rule which is for protective purposes perhaps the most efficient in Europe. If he pays more taxes, he has his money's worth in national dignity, safety, and, it soon may be, sway ; for if the Hohenzollerns last, they will yet have ships, colonies, and commerce. The new Government, moreover, is not of the kind which people of its own blood, language, and creed can either hate or despise. It is very stern, but it works through laws ; it is too mili- tary, but it wins victories ; and if it governs its people too much, it governs them through themselves, and in a style which they themselves declare to be highly efficient. There is probably no country in the world where life is so safe as in Prussia—always provided you do not quarrel with an officer —and none where property is so effectively protected. There is no petty persecution, except for Danes ; no affectation of scorn, no attempt to treat new subjects in ways in which old subjects are not treated. The Hanoverian who fought for King George is complimented for his fidelity. The strangely successful system of political adoption by which France has turned Strasburghers and Savoyards into Frenchmen has been attempted by Prussia also, and will, so far as men can per- ceive, be equally successful. The absorption of the subordinate but not subject States was a much more difficult matter, and is being effected with much more tact ; with a foresight, indeed, which the world had hardly expected from Count von Bismarck. His policy, and that of his master, has clearly been to efface differences of civilization before effacing boundaries, if indeed they are to be effaced at all. Nothing tends to solidify a nation like similarity of habits, of language, institutions, administration, and above all, of those laws which, in their gradual operation, either confirm or create national views of right and wrong. One example there is in the world of per- fect unity—not federation, but unity—existing between two States with dissimilar legal systems ; but it is the only one, and one which from exceptional circumstances cannot be relied on as a precedent. It would take a long history to explain why Scotland can trust England and England Scotland, yet pre- serve their differences of law, religion, and administrative organization ; and the historian would probably confess in the end that he could no more account for perfect national sympathy under such conditions, than he could account for the marriages of his friends. It is safer, if the organization is to be strong, to melt away such differences, and it is upon this policy the Govern- ment of North Germany has evidently resolved. All military differences, to begin with, have disappeared, and the King- President, perhaps the most efficient martinet in Europe, a man who quarrelled with his people for years rather than surrender his military ideal, pronounces the German Army precisely what he desires. Of the difficulties of detail which must have been obviated before that result could be attained, the dissimilarities of discipline, of system, of tradition which must have been removed, of the personal jealousies which must have been conciliated—a dozen Kings, for example, being reduced to general officers—it is needless to speak, the greater point being that every North German for the three most impressionable years of his life must pass through the same training, under the same officers, and with the same tradition of duty and its rewards. The history of an army is the external history of a nation, that portion of the general tradition which most surely creates national feeling ; and henceforward North Germany has in that sense but one history, is bound together- with the bond of common danger, common triumph, or common defeat. That bond alone is insufficient, as proved: by the Austrian instance ; but when it exists among people of the same language, creed, and civilization, it is almost too strong to break, quite too strong, we should say, but for the- American example. This immense change was carried out by the Executive alone, and from above ; and in civil affairs it was necessary to consult and conciliate the people, and their aid was sought through a device which seemed at first too able to succeed. By boldly appealing to universal suffrage to elect the common Parliament, Count von Bismarck risked the return. of men devoted to " particularismus " or provincial independ- ence, but he secured a majority of faithful Prussians. His plan, adopted, we fancy, from a rather vulgar motive, a desire to retain the lead for his own kingdom, as a bit of tactics rather- than of statesmanship, has proved unexpectedly successful, and the King-President has secured in his Lower House a most powerful solvent of provincialisms. The Parliament has. shown from the first that almost inexplicable courage in. innovation which belongs to representative bodies alone, and has never been displayed by any other kind of governing com- mittee. Customs as old as the race were swept away in a day to make way for a common commercial code, which will slowly but certainly create common ideas as to right and wrong in commerce, as well as a common system of transacting- business. A common law of marriage was established, and the most radical and fatal mistake of the few committed by the- framers of the American 'Constitution was avoided. Courts of every kind of jurisdiction were compelled to submit to a common appellate tribunal, thus laying a 'foundation for a common code of procedure ; and finally, through a bold appeal by the Chancellor to the idea of unity as above ideas even of morality, the dispute about the punishment of death was removed, and a common penal code established for all North Germany. Every act everywhere was criminal or innocent, and every crime visited everywhere by the same penalty, perhaps of all bonds of unity the most effective. It remains only to perfect a common Civil Code, and although this will be a difficult task, still its completion will in no long time be visibly impera- tive. The States are too closely interlaced to allow of the- difference which still exists between the Civil law of England and Scotland, nor will it long be convenient to allow separate- assemblies to pass laws which must every now and then infringe on the common criminal and the common commercial law. The Central Parliament has proved docile, it is cordially- approved by the people, who see in it the visible symbol of the they have made such sacrifices to gain, and we expect speedily to see the movement already started to merge all Parliaments in one, gather strength and volume. Its success- has been greatly facilitated by the split between the Court of Prussia and the feudalists, and should the King and his councillor resolve on the change, we question if the- old Upper Houses will not be finally swept away. The- Federal Council, with Kings only for its members—that is, in fact, composed of all the Premiers of the North—will be a better and and far more manageable chamber of revision. It represents, too, a fact, the regard of the different States for the great ruling families which have so long been identified with their interests, families which, with all their- faults, have rarely been hostile to the people. With a common Parliament, a common law, a common language, and a common army, North Germany is certain sooner or later to acknowledge formally what her people already acknowledge in fact,—that they are citizens of a new Empire, with the Hohenzollern for' its head,—an empire which, if it can but neutralize the South Germans, let alone absorb them, must speedily be beyond attack by any combination of the Continental Powers.
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